This is the veteran’s final appearance at the Paralympic Games
Shooting
Event: Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 Qualifiers
Athlete: Naresh Kumar Sharma
Time 6pm IST
Event: Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 Finals
Time: 8:15pm IST
Date
Time
Sport
Event
Athlete
Sept 14
18:00
Shooting
Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 Qualifiers
Naresh Kumar Sharma
Sept 14
20:15
Shooting
Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 Finals
In a bittersweet day for India, veteran shooter Naresh Kumar Sharma finished 44th in his 10m air rifle prone Shooting event following which he obviously failed to qualify. That same day, India’s first and only para-archer Pooja ranked 29th within her roster to qualify for the Round of 32. She set up a clash with Milena Olszewska of Poland due to take place on September 15.
Naresh Sharma started his last event by scoring 100.6 points from his first series. He shot 101.9 in his second series which took his total to 202.5. The first two rounds were enough to assure his exit from the competition but, with two more left to come, Sharma managed to score just 98.6 and 101.4 points from his third and fourth series respectively. The gold medallist in that event finished his four rounds with a total of 636.7 points.
India’s only shooter in this year’s contingent has battles quite bravely. 42-year old Naresh Kumar Sharma is participating in his fifth Paralympic Games. The shooter has been a part of every contingent since 1996 missing out only in 2004. He had his best finish in 2008 at the Beijing Paralympics when he finished 5th. This is possibly his last participation in the Games. He would have liked to have ended his career with a podium finish but at this stage that does not look too likely.
So far, India’s contingent of 19 has performed exceptionally in Rio. Only one Indian will feature on the itinerary on this day.
